With the number of golfers in the United States and other countries steadily increasing, specific attention has been recently directed to the most difficult part of the game of golf, i.e., putting, and many and various types of practice putting devices have been developed, marketed and used. For example, golf ball targets simulative of the dimensions of a golf hole have been developed. Such targets are typically for indoor usage. One such device includes essentially a flat disk with a number of pivoted elements surrounding the disk about its margins, the interior edges of the elements roughly defining an area corresponding to the lateral dimensions of a golf hole. A typical golfer may use this device to practice putts indoors, for example, putting on a horizontal surface, such as a rug, and rolling the golf ball up to and over the pivoted elements into the "cup." Another device marketed as a golf putting practice device comprises a flat, flexible disk having three upstanding projections defining a triangular area for receiving a golf ball. One of the upstanding projections serves as a target for the golfer. Again, such device is intended primarily for indoor use where the non-professional or professional golfer may practice putting by rolling the ball along a horizontal surface such that the golf ball rolls onto the disk and into the triangular area defined by the upstanding projections. While practice devices of this type are satisfactory for their limited intended purpose, they do not and cannot simulate actual golfing conditions such as reading the green to ascertain any prospective break or breaks of the ball and aligning and stroking the ball to accommodate for the contour of the green.
Even for those golfers who consistently use practice putting greens, most golfers have great difficulty in aligning the putt because, among other things, of a lack of definition of the golf hole or cup. The average golfer, and even those advanced and professional golfers, have great difficulty in focussing on the putt at hand and excluding from their mental processes thoughts extraneous to rolling the golf ball into the hole. Sports psychologists have recognized, particularly in the game of golf, that a correct mental attitude during this difficult portion of the game of golf is necessary for consistent and accurate putting. It has been found that by focussing positively and with only one thought in mind, i.e., making the putt, the golfer's game can be significantly improved. To applicants' knowledge, there has not previously been a golf putting practice aid which facilitates this mental concentration and which eliminates or minimizes negative or other thoughts which an individual golfer may have when attempting to putt during actual golf play.
One of the principal aspects of putting is, of course, the alignment of the putt with the hole or cup. As indicated previously, the cup lacks definition. Advanced and professional golfers, however, recognize that to successfully putt and to align the putt to run along the various contours of the putting surface between the ball location and the cup requires the golfer to focus on certain parts of the hole or outside of the hole rather than on the hole per se. For example, the hole is often mentally divided by those advanced and professional golfers into target areas or locations along each side of the hole. These target locations may be defined, for example, on the left side of the hole as the outside left edge, the left edge, inside left edge and left center edge. These target areas or locations, of course, are similar on the right side of the hole. Additionally, the center and back side of the hole are likewise target areas to which a golfer may wish to aim the putt. Without significant hole definition, it is oftentimes difficult to mentally focus on a particular target area even after reading the putt.